“The rule in Holme v Brunskill (1878) 3 QBD 495, permitting the discharge of a surety’s liability under a guarantee, only applied where the parties to the principal contract guaranteed had varied the terms of that contract without the surety’s consent.”

“Where a defendant was charged with disseminating terrorist publications via a bookshop and associated website which he managed, evidence that named terrorist offenders had possessed similar material was only admissible, if at all, for the very limited purpose of demonstrating that among the readership of the bookshop and website’s publications were people who were prepared to commit terrorist acts. But if the evidence was admitted for that purpose, it was relevant only to the question whether such people were likely to regard the contents of the publication as encouragement to commit terrorist acts. It was not admissible in proof of the fact that people had been so encouraged. It was essential that the judge direct the jury as to the limitations and pitfalls of such evidence.”

“Where a court had found that arrangements entered into by copyright owners with a claimant copyright owner to sue intended defendants in its own name and on behalf of the other owners for alleged breach of copyright were not champertous and that it was proportionate to make an order for disclosure to enable the other owners to have their infringement claims brought, since their interests in enforcing their copyrights outweighed the interests of intended defendants in protecting their privacy and data protection rights, there was no justification for the court to grant relief to the claimant alone and not the other owners without identifying some factor as affecting the balance of the competing interests identified.”

“Where a litigant was entitled to a hearing of a renewed application for permission to appeal to the High Court but for good reason was unable to attend court, listing the application for consideration on the papers before another judge was a proper course to take. In an appropriate case the court had power to dispense with an oral hearing and to determine the matter on the papers, or to proceed with an oral hearing and give judgment in the applicant’s absence.”

“When considering whether the Secretary of State’s decision to deport an EU national convicted of a serious crime who had resided in the United Kingdom for ten years was proportionate the First-tier Tribunal should consider both the domestic and the European dimension.”

“Section 72(1)(c) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended, which provided, inter alia, that the showing or playing in public of a broadcast to an audience who had not paid for admission to the place where the broadcast was to be seen or heard did not infringe any copyright in any film included in it, provided a defence to the act of communicating a film included in a broadcast to the public, which would otherwise be an act restricted by copyright under section 20 of the Act.”

“Communities across the country will be benefitting from swift and effective justice as thousands more court appearances will take place via video-link technology, Justice and Policing Minister Damian Green said today [3 January].”

“Following the return of Rumpole to Radio 4, Clive Anderson and his guests discuss how accurately the legal world is depicted in stage and screen dramas. And they discuss the issues which arise when the distinctions between fiction and fact – between Rumpole and reality – become blurred in the public’s mind.”

“What changes can workers expect from their employers in the coming year? Employment law expert Edward Goodwyn of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, looks ahead to some significant changes.”

“On the one hand the former Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke declared London’s courts to be among the best of British exports, while on the other the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) tore up the legal aid budget. Then there was the proposed crackdown on judicial reviews, while the personal injury sector has seen its business model declared dead, with no detail on an alternative forthcoming.”

“On the eve of ‘D-Day’ – that’s Divorce Day, the first Monday back to work after the festive period, when warring couples are more likely to register for a divorce – lawyers warn that tens of thousands of people could find splitting up harder and more costly this year. And the number of those turning to ‘DIY divorce kits’ is expected to surge.”